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GSA Adds More Carriers and Destinations to City Pairs Federal Travel Program

WASHINGTON — The U.S. General Services Administration announced today that it has added 749 new destinations and added three new carriers to its federal air travel program City Pairs. This program continues to be the largest managed airline program in the world and provides benefits to federal employees when traveling on official business that are not commercially available. By pairing sets of origins and destinations, City Pairs leverages the buying power of the federal government to price discounted one-way airline tickets estimated to save taxpayers more than $6.3 billion.

For fiscal year 2011 the City Pairs Program has set average federal rates at 68 percent below full commercial air fares and has increased ticketing flexibility for federal travelers. Federal travel varies per agency and mission and this program allows travelers to book the type of ticket they need while allowing for adjustments at no additional cost to the government.

“By leveraging our buying power as a governmentwide contracting arm for federal travel, GSA is able to negotiate prices through City Pairs with 13 air carriers to more than 5,000 locations at a significantly discounted cost to the federal government,” said GSA’s Acting Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Steven J. Kempf. “Over the past year, GSA’s focus on finding additional cost avoidance while increasing choice and flexibility has once again created an even more dynamic City Pairs program that continues to lead the industry with firm, fixed pricing, flexible policy, and governmentwide savings.”

The City Pairs program offers 4,299 domestic and 1,423 international destinations. The updated contracts for 2011 include three additional airlines – Continental, Hawaiian, and Southwest – resulting in a total of 13 carrier options.

These new options will become effective Oct. 1, 2010. When awarding City Pairs contracts to airlines, GSA considers particular criteria including availability of nonstop service, total number of flights, flight availability throughout the day, average elapsed flight time, availability of jet service, and price of service. GSA’s City Pairs also offers dual fare markets to provide flexibility for immediate travel and discounted fares for booking flights early.

For more information on the City Pairs program or to view air fares please visit Airline City Pairs

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